Only in Government: Thank You for Smoking Edition

"Of course, states being the patient fiscally responsible entities that they were, couldn’t wait for the dollars to flow in from the tobacco companies. So, taking their cue from the investment banks who can basically take any cash flow, package it up and sell it off as a bond (and I am sure at the urging of the investment banks), states and municipalities “securitized” these expected future cash flows. In other words, states took the money now (by raising it from investors) and sold the investors the rights to a fixed stream of future cash flows based on the expected future payments from tobacco companies."